Police said 23-year-old Montarious Dawson was charged in the murder of 46-year-old Keith Graham on January 20.

Montarious Dawson

Dawson is accused of shooting and killing Graham on Dundeen Street in the evening of January 20.

Officers found Graham suffering from a gunshot at a residence on Dundeen Street wound around 6 p.m. He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center where he later died.

On Monday night, Dawson voluntarily went to CMPD headquarters where he was interviewed by detectives. Upon completion of the interview, Mr. Dawson was charged with murder. He was then transported to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office where he remains in custody.

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The voice from a distant mountain ambush in Afghanistan left U.S. commanders glued to their radios in 2007. A 20-year-old paratrooper, dead and dying Americans all around him, was telling the world what was happening and calling for help.

Kyle White, who the White House announced Tuesday will receive the Medal of Honor in a ceremony May 13, was a key lifeline for those in his patrol still alive, scattered along a cliffside trail snaking along a river near the border with Pakistan.

White will be only the seventh living recipient of the Medal of Honor from either the Iraq or Afghanistan Wars. His will be the 14th awarded from the conflicts to those living or dead.

Six Americans were killed in the ambush Nov. 9, 2007, along with three Afghan National Army soldiers. All of the other eight U.S. soldiers were wounded.

“I was 100% certain I was going to die that day,” says White, who suffered a mild concussion from two nearby explosions.

More than six years passed before the decision to give him the vaunted award — a long period even by the measured pace the Pentagon normally takes.

White says he always knew that receiving a Medal of Honor could change his life. The thought of it brought mixed feelings — humbled by the recognition but sorrowful over the terrible cost it represents.

The only child of a couple employed by the Boeing aircraft manufacturer, Kyle White grew up in Bonney Lake, Wash., in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating from high school.

He left the Army in 2011, and last year, he obtained a bachelor of science degree with a major in finance from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Now 27, he was hired in January by the Royal Bank of Canada in Charlotte as an investment analyst.

The battle for which White is being honored was a textbook ambush by an enemy that vastly outnumbered the Americans and their Afghan comrades. Between firing his rifle, scrambling to retrieve wounded comrades and having his thoughts scrambled by two close explosions, White told commanders what was happening, according to an Army account.

“All of Afghanistan was listening to his call sign, Charlie One Six Romeo,” says Col. William Ostlund, then-commander of the battalion in which White served as a specialist.

“So when his platoon leader was killed, Charlie One Six Romeo was instrumental in controlling every single thing, from the fixed-wing bombers to the helicopter attack to the indirect (mortar and artillery) fire to treating casualties,” Ostlund says.

Fourteen Americans and a squad of Afghan National Army soldiers were attacked while strung out single file along a narrow trail devoid of cover. Scores of Taliban fighters crouched on the opposite side of the valley or were concealed ahead down the trail or on the ridge above. They opened fire at 3:30 p.m. as the setting sun was in the soldiers’ eyes. Many of the attackers were in shadows, all but invisible to the Americans.

The Taliban even videoed the action so they could turn it into a propaganda film. But the battle all but escaped notice in American media.

The battle became known as the Bella Ambush, named after the outpost where the soldiers were headed that afternoon.

Events leading to the ambush actually began months earlier. White was with the 1st Platoon, Chosen Company of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry.

During the summer of 2007, the platoon was based at a distant outpost near the village of Aranas, high in the Hindu Kush mountains. In August, the paratroopers of 1st Platoon came under attack at their base by about 100 Taliban fighters who overran nearly half the fort.

Half the 22 Americans were wounded. The platoon commander, 1st Lt. Matthew Ferrara, earned a Silver Star after calling in an airstrike on top of his position, killing the Taliban commander leading the attack.

That outpost near Aranas was abandoned in October, but Ferrara wanted to reconnect with the elders in Aranas and led a patrol up from Bella the night of Nov. 8.

He met with them Nov. 9 but grew suspicious that a Taliban attack might be forming and ordered his patrol to hike back toward Bella that afternoon. They were en route when the ambush occurred.

Ferrara, 24, a West Point graduate from Torrance, Calif., died carrying a list of what the elders wanted for the winter — fuel and blankets — tucked in his pocket, Ostlund says. Ferrara was posthumously promoted to captain.

White was his radio man.

“The whole valley erupted,” White remembers. “They had us in this perfect spot.”

Paratroopers who weren’t killed outright charged into enemy fire or tumbled off the path down the steep mountainside to reach the valley 50 to 100 yards below. Some were blown off the cliff by rocket-propelled grenades, Ostlund says.

When the shooting started, White was near a gnarled, juniper-like tree that offered concealment but no protection from enemy fire. White huddled there, working feverishly to stem the blood gushing from a shoulder wound to Spc. Kain Schilling.

Thirty feet behind them on the trail, Marine Sgt. Phillip Bocks, 28, of Troy, Mich., who was training the Afghan soldiers, was sitting upright on the ground, shot through the leg and chest, blood coming out of his mouth.

He tried crawling to reach White and Schilling but couldn’t manage it.

“The air was really hot and hostile,” Schilling recalls. “There are a lot of different sounds, you get your cracks, and the whips, the real close-like zingers when they’re dialing in on you.”

White came to Bocks.

“I remember thinking to myself, all right, I’m not going to make it through this,” White recalls. “So I’m going to at least try to help somebody until that happens.”

Schilling, who lay beneath the tree canopy, recalls how White ran to Bocks as bullets ricocheted off broken shale at White’s feet creating an aura of sparks.

“It would almost be a cool sight if it wasn’t so deadly,” Schilling says. “I was absolutely sure that he was going to die.”

Each time White made his way toward Bocks, Taliban fighters concentrated their fire on him. Fearing that Bocks would be wounded again, White pulled back to the tree but returned again and again to finally drag Bocks to the canopy of leaves.

“Everywhere around my feet, through my uniform, it was just rounds coming in everywhere,” White says. “You could feel it, the pressure of the round going by.”

Bocks was wounded in the chest and right leg. Though White placed a tourniquet above the leg wound, he could tell there was serious internal damage from the chest wound.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it through this one,” the Marine said. He died shortly thereafter.

Schilling was hit a second time, this time through his left leg. White pulled his belt off to use as a second tourniquet, yanking it tight.

Then the radio man crawled back out into the open to reach Ferrara, who had collapsed several feet up the trail. He found his platoon commander dead.

He said he needed to notify the world about what had gone wrong.

White’s own radio was shot up by gunfire. Schilling’s radio also was also out of action. White retrieved Bocks’ radio.

“I was bringing it to my ear. A bullet went right though the hand mike and just blew it out of my hand,” he recalls.

But he managed to activate it and establish radio contact with commanders, summoning artillery support, aircraft and rescue personnel.

Air evacuations that required hoisting dead and wounded up to hovering medevac helicopters were not possible until after dark.

Other heroism that day included the actions of then-Staff Sgt. James Takes. He ordered his men down the mountainside while providing covering fire, then followed them, pausing to help a wounded soldier despite being shot through both arms, according to an award citation. Takes received a Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest valor award. Conrad Begaye, , another staff sergeant in the patrol, received the Silver Star for heroism after establishing radio contact and assisting with directing support fire and rescue.

White suffered a mild traumatic brain injury from the close blast of an RPG and then, minutes later, the explosion of an incoming, 120mm mortar round from U.S. forces trying to suppress the enemy attack.

He was diagnosed later with post-traumatic stress disorder but says he copes with the symptoms through exercise.

He still carries in his face bullet fragments from an AK-47 round that shattered on a rock in front of him.

Two men have been charged with robbing a woman of her purse on a Saturday afternoon six weeks ago in the Myers Park community, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say.

Investigators said a woman told them she was on the 1300 block of Queens Road, about a block from Providence Road, around 3:30 p.m. March 1 when a white van pulled up with two men inside. The woman said one man got out, walked up to her, and demanded her purse.

After getting the woman’s purse, the two men drove away, police said. The woman was not injured, according to investigators.

Police said detectives developed information leading them to Deareus Sims, 20, as a suspect in the case. Sims was found March 24 at a residence on Parkdale Drive, near Tuckaseegee Park in west Charlotte. After being questioned by police, Sims was charged with common law robbery, conspiracy to commit common law robbery and obtaining property by false pretense.

Deareus Sims, 20, was arrested March 24 in connection with the alleged robbery of a woman on Queens Road in Charlotte three weeks earlier, police say. (Mecklenburg County Jail photo.)

A second suspect, identified as 42-year-old Gerald Desmaratte, was located Tuesday on Little Rock Road in northwest Charlotte. Desmaratte was charged with common law robbery and felony conspiracy.

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Spring is officially here! So far, our crime numbers continue to do well for the Response Area. As of Monday morning, Part One crimes are down -8.6%. We experienced one armed robbery from business at Crownpoint Movie Theater. Officers conducted a thorough investigation over the next few days after the incident and the suspect was arrested during an unrelated call for service.

We have experienced an increase in Larceny from Auto in our commercial and apartment complex areas. The Sardis Road North and Village Lake areas have been targeted by means of lock punches and window breaks. Fortunately, two groups have been identified and arrested for the Larceny from Autos, so we are anticipating the larceny from auto to level out.

As the weather becomes warmer, we tend to see more and more foot traffic in the community. Be mindful when you are our running errands. Choose shopping centers that you are familiar with and only park in well lit parking areas. Make a point to check for any subjects who appear to be sitting dormant in their cars or subjects on foot that could be looking for opportunity.

Also, as spring break approaches, be mindful not to broadcast on social media that you will be out of town. Either have your mail stopped or have a trusted neighbor collect it daily for you. CMS schools’ spring break will be April 14-18.

The first Quarter closed out for us with crime down 9% to start the year. That is great since we are coming off a year of 12% reduction!!

Violent Crime up 67% for the Year

Violent crimes are Homicides, Rapes, Robberies, and Aggravated Assaults.
Violent crime is up from LOW numbers last year. The robbery numbers are in line with our three year average.

• In 28 days we had 7 reported violent crimes:

1 rape (suspect is known to victim), 1 commercial robbery (cleared by arrest), 4 personal robberies, and 1 aggravated assault (no serious injury). Of the robberies, one was an attempt only. One was cleared by arrest; one was reported 8 days later and two have no leads.

Property Crime down 13% for the Year

• The number of Residential burglaries is down 10 from last year at this time. Our three year average for Breaking & Entering over a 28-day period is 2.4 per week. For this cycle, our response area is averaging 1 breaking and entering per week.

• Year to date, Larceny from Auto is up 38% compared to last year. This 28 day period we’ve had 24 reported compared to 10 last year for the same 28 days. Our increase in Larceny from Autos can be attributed to two groups that have been identified and arrested. One of these groups targeted various areas throughout the entire city, causing citywide numbers to increase as well.This group included:

CharMeck Alerts is being implemented due to the increasing number of our community members that use their mobile devices (cell phone and email) instead of landline home phone numbers for geo-notifier/reverse 911 alerts.

With this new alert system, YOU choose your preferred method(s) of delivery: text, phone, and/or email.

Have you ever thought…What can I do to make my community safer? Here’s your chance!

Did You Know…

•97% of all criminal cases in Mecklenburg County are PLEA deals. Only 3% of cases each year ever go to a jury trial.

•Appromimately 50% of all felonies are dismissed during a plea deal.

•The local jail (intake) is approximately 1/3 empty.

Ways to get involved for the Independence Division:

•Learn how to track offenders impacting your neighborhood

•Sit in on court sessions of offenders being tracked to demonstrate community concern.

•Collect data from court hearings which will be posted on CharMeck Court Watch’s website for public view

•Attend bi-weekly meetings (2nd & 4th Tuesday each month) with other courtwatch members

If you would like to get involved, please contact us via one of the options below:

Officer Wes Corell wcorell@cmpd.org 704(841-1477)

Officer Alissa Whaley awhaley@cmpd.org 704(841-1477)

Our bi-weekly meetings are held at the Independence Division Team office located at 9315 Monroe Road, Suite G.

Social Media Crime Prevention For Parents

If your child has a smartphone or ipad/ipod chances are he/she may have one of these apps which are highly used in social media.

We strongly encourage parents to monitor their child’s social media accounts daily.

TIPS:

* Know your child’s username and password and check it periodically. There are many texting apps available to the public that allow for mobile phone users to text without it showing up on the phone bill.

* Implement rules of when your child cannot be glued to their social media (dinner, bedtime, homework).

* Enforce the rules that you have established!

IF YOUR TEEN OR MIDDLE-SCHOOLER DOES NOT WANT YOU FOLLOWING THEM ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK OR ANY OTHER APPLICATION. THAT MAY BE A SIGN OF A PROBLEM